The House of Quark
' |image= |series= |production= 40513-449 |producer(s)= |story= Tom Benko |script= Ronald D. Moore |director=Les Landau |imdbref=tt0708626 |guests=Max Grodénchik as Rom, Mary Kay Adams as Grilka, Robert O'Reilly as Gowron, Rosalind Chao as Keiko, Carlos Carrasco as D'Ghor, Joseph Ruskin as Tumek |previous_production=The Search Part 2 |next_production=Equilibrium |episode= DS9 S03E03 |airdate= 10 October 1994 |previous_release=The Search Part 2 |next_release=Equilibrium |story_date(s)=Unknown (2371) |previous_story=The Search Part 2 |next_story=Equilibrium }} =Summary= When a drunken Klingon named Kozak falls on his knife in the bar, Quark decides it is an opportunity for proﬁt and rewrites the event as a fierce battle - a story heartily endorsed by Kozak's brother - D’Ghor. Unexpectedly, Kozak’s widow Grilka then kidnaps Quark to the Klingon home world, holding a knife to his throat as they wed. Kozak was head of a great Klingon house. If he had died by accident,- the Klingon High Council might have allowed Grilka to become the new head of the house. Using Quark's story, D’Ghor has certified that Kozak died honorably. By Klingon law, the house will pass to him, since Kozak left no male heir. Desperate, Grilka has married her husband’s slayer, thereby making it the House of Quark. Interestingly enough, while looking over the house's records, Quark discovers that D’Ghor has used despicable financial means to weaken the house. When Quark brings this charge before the High Council, D’Ghor challenges him to personal battle. Knowing he can never defeat D’Ghor, Quark throws his batleth to the ground, taunting the Klingon to rise to headship over the house by slaughtering an unarmed Ferengi. D’Ghor attempts to do so but Gowron stops the fight, declares D’Ghor without honor, and assigns the house to Griika. Quark then asks for and quickly receives a divorce. =Errors and Explanations= Plot Oversights # Many nitpickers found it interesting that no one on the station seems to notice that Quark is missing during this episode! Of course, we don’t really know how long he is gone. And maybe he has a habit of disappearing for a day or two at a time. l suppose if we were actually going to pick this nit we would have to consider how long it takes to get from DS9 to the Klingon home world. At least with that piece of information, we'd have some indication how incredulous we should be over the senior staffs apparent indifference toward the disappearance of the station's most prominent “civic leader.” Let's see what the episode has to offer concerning clues dealing with the travel time from DS9 to Kronos. Before kidnapping Quark, Grilka injects the Ferengi with a drug to knock him unconscious. ln the very next scene, Grilka’s adviser Tumek injects Quark with a drug to wake him up. lt appears that Quark was asleep throughout the trip. Also, once Grilka shows up in Council Chambers with Quark, D’Ghor decides to reveal Quark's lie about the fierce battle he fought with Kozak. A very short time later - seemingly only a day, possibly two – he has Rom marched into Council chambers. Now, even if we that D’Ghor had a ship stationed near DS9 that could pick up Rom and bring him to Kronos, that still allows only a few days for travel time. And a few days would seem about right for Quark’s trip to Kronos as well, since he was drugged the entire time. (Unlessr Gilka put him in stasis of course.) Here’s the problem: If it takes only a few days to get from DS9 to Kronos-even if we assume that the ships carrying the Ferengi are traveling at warp 9 - Bajor has to be really close to the Klingon home world in intragalactic terms. Two days at warp 9 will get you only about 10 light-years down the road. What’s really interesting is that The Search Part 1 put Earth only about a week’s distance from the station. l guess it's a small galaxy after all. (l know many of you have seen maps drawn of he Federation, he Klingon Empire, the Romulan Empire, and the Cardassian Empire that ﬂat out indicate there is no way the travel times in this episode could be correct. But to the best of my knowledge at the time of this writing there is no canonical map available. lf we're going to follow our rules as nitpickers, we just have to accept that these territories are really packed this tightly together!) Maybe there are Warp highways in the area! # With the ever-present Dominion threat, Bajorans begin moving oft the station during this episode‘ . Keiro is left with only two students - Jake and Nog - and makes the painful decision to close the school. To give her something to do, O’Brien initially seeks Sisko’s permission to set up an arboretum on the station. The commander agrees, and in short order we see O’Brien designing the arboretum on a padd in the replimat. If this is going to be Keiko’s arboretum, wouldn't she want to design its layout? He’s probably working out how to arrange the plants to ease the supply of light, water, etc. # For a race that despises financial matters and considers ledgers “filthy,” they sure do keep accurate records of their transactions. Quark apparently has no trouble tracing back the audit trails on D’Ghor’s underhanded dealings with the House of Kozak. (They must buy their accounting software from the Ferengi and hire young Cardassian nubiles to punch the figures in for them.) More likely that Quark figured out how and where the information was hidden. # Does anyone else find it odd that the Baiorans have had a civilized society for 500,000 years - according to Picard in Ensign Ro (TNG) - and yet O’Brien tells Keiko that the Janitza mountains on Bajor have never been surveyed before‘? What have these people been doing all this time? It may not have been possible to survey the mountains safely before now. Changed Premises # Evidently Odo is falling down on the job. According to Emissary and Past Prologue he doesn't allow weapons on the promenade. Yet, in this episode, Kozak carries a knife into Quark’s and it looks like it’s in plain view. It may be classed as a ceremonial blade. # Wow, Bashir certainly has improved his interpersonal communication skills! Just six episodes ago, at the beginning of Crossover, he was an obnoxious twit who couldn't even take a less-than-subtle hint that Kira didn’t want to talk to him. Now he’s spouting advice to O’Brien in the replimat that would make Counselor Troi proud. He was obviously inspired by the Crossover incident to improve his interpersonal communication. Equipment Oddities # While designing the arboretum, O’Brien moves a stylus over the padd. A sound effect indicates that some type of input is being processed, but the screen appears completely static! This could indicate that the padd is saving the latest version of the image. Nit Central # Keith Alan Morgan on Friday, May 07, 1999 - 6:38 am: The House of Kozak no longer has a name because Kozak is dead, but what about the House of Mogh? Since Mogh has been dead for decades shouldn't it have been called the House of Worf? Perhaps that house was founded by another Mogh, and the house retains his name as a family tradition. # Keith Alan Morgan on Tuesday, June 01, 1999 - 1:20 am: A Klingon divorce is just a backhanded slap, a Klingon phrase, and spitting. Considering that Klingon lovemaking involves bruising, bloodletting and occasional broken bones that's a very gentle way to end a marriage. ScottN on Friday, July 28, 2000 - 9:20 am: KAM, Grilka was probably being kind to Quark because she liked him. Had she been dealing with a Klingon (or someone she didn't like), she probably would have been much more violent. ''Ghel on Wednesday, February 07, 2001 - 3:17 pm:''Or it could be worse than you think. For a Klingon, it could almost be akin to saying "You aren't even worth the energy!" :o) # Miles tells Keiko about the expedition on Bajor, which leaves in 2 weeks, and how they need a chief botanist. They plan an expedition and scheduled a date to begin WITHOUT getting all the required personnel first??? TomM on Friday, July 28, 2000 - 11:28 am: Maybe Miles called in a few favors to have the previous chief botanist suddenly drop out. Seniram More likely the other candidates for chief botanist were unable or unwilling to take the job. Category:EpisodesCategory:Deep Space Nine